UEFA
The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) (German: Vereinigung Europäischer Fußballverbände), is the administrative body of the football associations in Europe, although several member states are primarily or entirely located in Asia. It is one of the six football confederations in FIFA. UEFA membership coincides as a sovereign country for Europe, among the notable is England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Netherlands, Iceland, Gibraltar, Ireland and Northern Ireland. These include Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales, (Countries of the United Kingdom), Gibraltar (British Overseas Territory), the Faroe Islands (autonomous country within Denmark), and Kosovo (disputed territory and partially recognised state), however in the context of these countries government functions concerning sport tend to be carried at the territorial level coterminous with the UEFA member entity. Countries which had been members of Asian Football Confederation are also part of the UEFA, particularly Israel (since 1994) and Kazakhstan (since 2002). National football teams that are not recognised as members are Monaco and Vatican City. Additionally some UEFA member associations allow teams from outside their association's main territory to take part in their "domestic" competition. AS Monaco, for example, takes part in the French League (though a separate sovereign entity); Welsh clubs Cardiff City, Swansea City and Newport County A.F.C. participate in the English League; Berwick Rangers, situated in England, play in the Scottish Professional Football League and Derry City, situated in Northern Ireland, play in the Republic of Ireland-based League of Ireland. Memberships Kosovo On 13 May 2016, Kosovo was accepted by FIFA, and on 3 May 2016, Kosovo was accepted by UEFA. The same applies to Montenegro, which has happened on 26 January 2007. Greenland Greenland has been seeking to participate in confederated football since at least 1998 when then national team manager Sepp Piontek stated that he had already asked UEFA to look into the possibility of Greenland becoming a member of the organization. About the issue, former DBU president Allan Hansen stated, "Concerning the GBU, I’m not convinced they officially applied for FIFA and UEFA membership at around the same time as Gibraltar. As I’m informed, the GBU in the late nineties sent a letter clarification on a number of issues but..there were no follow-up actions." Additionally, he stated, "I can’t foretell what will happen in the future, but I have attended a meeting with UEFA, DBU and GBU and I'm convinced that the day DBU and GBU present a partnership agreement and a road-map for the development of Greenlandic football, UEFA will be ready to discuss options for supporting the development of Greenlandic football as well as football on an administrative level." However, another report from 2010 states that an application was submitted but other factors such as the admittance of the former Soviet and Yugoslav nations were made for the bad timing of the application. In 2011, Allan Hansen, chairman of the Danish Football Association stated that he did not believe that Greenland had the opportunity to become a member of FIFA or a confederation immediately. However, in December 2014, the DBU and Greenland's GBU formed a partnership of having Greenland included in the FIFA and UEFA member by 2020. One of the greatest barriers to admittance at that time was FIFA's strict requirements on stadiums and playing surfaces. Before becoming a member of FIFA, Greenland would be required to be a member of the football confederation. However, UEFA now requires new members to be recognised by the United Nations as fully independent. Another possibility would be for Greenland to join CONCACAF since it is geographically closer to North America and the confederation allows dependent territories to join as new members. It was believed that UEFA would vote to change its membership requirements at the 41st Annual Congress held in Helsinki, Finland so that they were more in line with those of FIFA which allows non-independent states under certain conditions. At that time DBU chair Allan Hansen said, "Greenland is in a pre-membership stage right now. I'm a lot more optimistic than I was five years ago." At that time, GBU chair John Thorsen expected that if UEFA changes its membership requirement, Greenland could have an application together by 2020. However, after the UEFA Congress, no mention of the change was made. Teams with appearances in the FIFA World Cup *1930: Belgium, France, Yugoslavia *1934: Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland *1938: Norway, Poland *1950: England *1954: Scotland, Turkey *1958: Northern Ireland, Soviet Union, Wales *1962: Bulgaria *1966: Portugal *1974: East Germany *1986: Denmark *1990: Republic of Ireland *1994: Greece, Russia (ex. Soviet Union), FR Yugoslavia *1998: Croatia (ex. Yugoslavia) *2002: Slovenia (ex. Yugoslavia) *2006: Czech Republic (ex. Czechoslovakia), Serbia and Montenegro, Ukraine (ex. Soviet Union) *2010: Serbia (ex. Yugoslavia), Slovakia (ex. Czechoslovakia) *2014: Bosnia and Herzegovina (ex. Yugosolavia) *2018: Iceland UEFA European Football Championship On 30 November 1992, UEFA formally decided to expand the tournament to sixteen teams. UEFA cited the increased number of international teams following the recent break up of the Soviet Union and of Yugoslavia – rising from 33 UEFA members in 1988 to 48 by 1994 – as a driving factor behind the expansion. Forty-seven teams ultimately entered to compete for the fifteen remaining places in the finals, alongside hosts England. The UEFA Executive Committee today approved the expansion of the final tournament of the UEFA European Championship from 16 to 24 teams, as from the 2016 edition. This historic decision gives middle-ranked countries a much greater chance to qualify for the finals. The traditional qualifying structure, with groups of six and five teams, will remain in place. The tournament will open with a group stage consisting of 16 groups of three teams, with the top two teams progressing from each group to a knockout tournament starting with a round of 32 teams. The number of games played overall will increase from 64 to 80, but the number of games played by finalists remains at seven, the same as with 32 teams, except that one group match will be replaced by a knockout match. The tournament will also be completed within 32 days, same as previous 32-team tournaments. The proposal for expansion was opposed by the European Clubs Association and its member clubs, saying that the number of games was already at an "unacceptable" level and they urged the governing body to reconsider its idea of increasing the number of teams that qualify. German national team coach Joachim Löw warned that expansion, as had occurred for Euro 2016, would dilute the value of the world tournament because players have already reached their physical and mental limit. Another criticism of the new format is that with 3-team groups, the risk of collusion between the two teams playing in the last round will increase compared with 4-team groups (where simultaneous kick-offs have been employed). One suggestion by President Infantino is that group matches that end in draws will be decided by penalty shootouts.